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A Love Letter To January

It’s so close I can see it on the horizon, just beyond that bank of dirty snow. I can smell its promise, its potential and its hope. All I have to do is jump over a few more hoops made of weird days off, fattening mayonnaise-based dips, and holiday expectations. Once I’ve dipped my final pretzel rod into the last bit of smoked gouda spread and put away all the Christmas stuff I am buying this afternoon at the 50% off sales, I am going to belly flop into January.

The best month of the year.

Ya’ll, I love January like Martin Scorsese loves Leonardo DiCaprio. If January was a singer, it would be my Willie Nelson. If it was a Supreme Court Justice, it would be my sweet Sonia Sotomayor. And if it was a humanely-run, big box retailer, it would be COSTCO.

Oh, sweet January, come here and give me a big fat kiss.

January. I love that oranges are in season and there’s no more chocolate truffles laying around. I love that it’s too cold to dress stylishly or to run on the lake. The pressure’s off in January– there are no gift-giving occasions, other than a couple of family birthdays (Hi, Simon, Frank, Krista and Patrick– I won’t forget you or give you month-old red and green M&M’s for your birthdays).

There’s no expectation that I be tan or toned or happy during January. (I will admit the overcrowding at the gym next month will seriously bug, but that blows over pretty fast when everyone reverts back to normal by February 15.)

I’ll have a new EXCEL spreadsheet for tracking my 2014 budget. And, I’ll have a new list for “Books read” and “Places visited.”

I love the quiet, unassuming grace of January– no good movies ever come out and no restaurants open. It’s like a freebie month to put my life back together after the tornado of fun and calories that is December.

Januaries are the best months of my life. It’s not an accident that the seeds of my marriage were planted during a night at the opera with Jeff in January. I bought my first condo in January. I had a baby in January. I joined Costco in January. My favorite show, Mad Men, stars January Jones. There are no coincidences here, people.

Thus it is will delicious anticipation that I open my arms and welcome whatever January 2014 ushers in. Only 5 more days!

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37 thoughts on “A Love Letter To January”

Happy New Year. However, one of the best movies of the year will actually open n your city in January. August: Osage County is amazing! I was lucky enough to see a preview performance. No hyperbole. It’s fab!

Yes! I love January too. For me, January means my birthday, the Nordstrom half yearly sale, an annual trip to my sister’s house to smother her kiddos with love, and usually at least 1 really good snowstorm where I can stay inside, bake cookies, and watch the splendor suburban snow. And as I was dunking french fries in garlic mayo last night and thinking about my sure-to-be-awful-but-delicious dinner tonight, I was looking forward to January and a fresh running schedule more than anything…

Well you know how I feel about January so I don’t need to tell you! But I do need to say how much I loved every word of this post. Especially this: “It’s like a freebie month to put my life back together after the tornado of fun and calories that is December.” Except for me it feels like a tornado of confusion and chaos that was the year 2013. Still — I’m ready for my freebie!

I will admit the overcrowding at the gym next month will seriously bug, but that blows over pretty fast when everyone reverts back to normal by February 15.
Seen this many times… it wasn’t resolutions for me, it was more “when does the rehab, recovery, pain end?”

Are you looking forward to January?
Christie, I’m having metal wires threaded up my spine on the 30th… and that’s just the “trial” procedure! Normally I’d take my kids to the area First Night festivities to grind some energy and boredom out of them, but I’m just hoping the pain is reduced and I recover. And that the kids don’t get too cabin-fevered stir-crazy before going back to school.

I guess I’ve been too busy bitching about winter to really appreciate January with such gusto. I’ll try it your way. Maybe I’ll find it as magical as new pomade or a fresh haircut. I do like fresh starts, and I think I need one.

Ok, I’m going to try to borrow your attitude. I hate January: it’s cold, the parties are over, spring is still far away, and school (and thus, getting up early) starts back up. But I like how you look at it.

Love this post. I was born in January, as was my wife, and I have to say, I am looking at January with a lot of longing. The holidays are wonderful, but our routine is shot, which means writing is irregular. I’m looking at January as my promised land of consistency, birthday brownies, and a return to work. That might make me weird, but that’s okay.

I love January now that I’m an adult. As a kid, I used to hate having a January bday because I had many birthday parties cancelled due to snow. Also, I used to feel as though the kids that had bdays farther away from Christmas, got better presents. Now, I love January 🙂